Got Something on My dick....

[gawguy]

Savittre,

 

I am a wart veteran having had, first, genital warts "up the hole of me arse" and then an out break of garden variety warts around the base of the dick. (I told the lady dermatologist, "But my mother told me I would get them on the palms of my hands." She got it, and had a good laugh.)

 

They attacked the genital warts with cauterization in the US. They came back a little in LOS where they tried burning them off with a chemical. That didn't work, so they cauterized. That was fine.

 

The regular warts were burned off with liquid nitrogen. It only hurts for a second. The doctor told me that a couple of such treatments stimulates the immune system and they will stop coming back.

 

All treatments were "no big deal" and the pain was minimal and things healed in about a week. All quiet on the wart front for about 6 months now.

 

Good luck,

GG

[bibblies]

Says gawguy:

---

All quiet on the wart front for about 6 months now.

---

 

I bet you miss the little guys though, don't you?

[Guest]

Savittre,

 

A friend of mine had genital warts a few years ago. He went to several doctors about it and informed women he was dating who discussed it with their doctors. It is caused by a virus called Human Papilloma Virus or HPV. HPV is considered a precursor to cervical cancer and apparently occurs 100% in women with cervical cancer. It is not regarded as a precursor of cancer in men.

 

Genital warts are frequently so small as to be invisible to the naked eye. One diagnostic technique is to spread vinegar on the area. Warts turn white when coated with vinegar and are easier to see.

 

Although warts can be removed, it is never possible to know whether the HPV virus remains or whether tiny warts can pass the virus on to a sex partner.

 

As to his long-term prospects for cure, the doctors consulted offered this range of opinions:

 

1. there is no cure, he will have to wear condoms for the rest of his life.

2. After six months, if no warts are observed he is cured and doesn’t need to wear condoms.

3. A condom may reduce the risk of transmission but does not eliminate it.

4. The virus may be passed to a woman by using towels that he has used or by touching his jeans with her hand.

 

Since my friend is a very ethical person he always discussed his condition with women he was dating. Most dropped him on the spot. One woman took the risk after consulting her doctor (who gave opinion # 4). They devised a regime that involved her wearing rubber gloves during sex, for example. After a few months she ended up contracting genital warts. She was treated. The warts were removed whether by incision or liquid nitrogen, I don’t know. On the way home from the treatment she hemoraged, collapsed on the sidewalk, was rushed to an emergency room, and came out ok. They had planned to marry, but she did not continue the relationship after that. I am no longer in touch with my friend, but during the time I knew him HPV had ruined his life.

 

The real risk of STDs is not AIDS, which, while deadly, is relatively rare and difficult to contract. The risk is of the non-lethal, but incurable diseases like HPV and herpes, which also spread easily. Infection rates among the sexually active population are extremely high (30% to 40% for each) and always increasing since there is no cure. For HPV many infected people don’t know they have it, especially women since the warts may be internal. It is believed that herpes only spreads during an outbreak so it can sometimes be successfully managed. I dated a woman who told me she had herpes before our first sex. Thereafter when she had an outbreak I would literally not touch her at all until it disappeared. I never got it.

 

All in all a strong argument for monogamy. I haven't kept up on developments in treatment for HPV for a few years so there may be new information. In any case, Savittre, good luck with your situation.

 

Khun Pad Thai

 

[stumpy]

Report of a potential vaccine for HPV here (5-7 years away though)

 

A trial vaccine reported also here

 

Another interesting article here

 

 

'Physicians estimate that 20 to 40 million people in the U.S. alone carry HPV, which causes warts of the genital tract and causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer in women'

 

Given the size of the problem it's surprising more resources aren't being given to finding a cure.

[tomc12]

You and your friend have a different perspective on HPV than I do.

1) Is HPV a precursor to cervical cancer? True, almost all patients with cervical cancer test positive for HPV. However, the majority of women with HPV do not develop cervical cancer

2)Most visible warts are caused by subtypes 6 and 11 which are rarely associated with invasive cancer.

3)Most HPV infections are asymptomatic and unrecognized-in other words, subclinical. There are currently no screening tests for this.

4)HPV is considered the most common STD in the US

5)Transmission is by skin-to-skin contact, not by touching a person's jeans

6)The virus resides in the epidermis, not the dermis where the blood vessels reside. Treatment of external warts should never result in hemorrhage. Cervical wart treatment only rarely causes heavy bleeding and when it does, it is frequently because of heavy-handed therapy.

7)Should a person with a history of having a wart on his/her hand be required to wear gloves at all times?

8)Like HPV, the majority of people with Herpes are unaware they have the virus. When you say you never got the the virus, is that based on antibody testing or just never having an outbreak?

To me, the real risk of an STD is the HIV and Hepatitis virus, not the Herpes or HPV virus.

[Guest]

Tomc12,

 

You wrote:

You and your friend have a different perspective on HPV than I do.

1) Is HPV a precursor to cervical cancer? True, almost all patients with cervical cancer test positive for HPV. However, the majority of women with HPV do not develop cervical cancer

2)Most visible warts are caused by subtypes 6 and 11 which are rarely associated with invasive cancer.

3)Most HPV infections are asymptomatic and unrecognized-in other words, subclinical. There are currently no screening tests for this.

4)HPV is considered the most common STD in the US

5)Transmission is by skin-to-skin contact, not by touching a person's jeans

6)The virus resides in the epidermis, not the dermis where the blood vessels reside. Treatment of external warts should never result in hemorrhage. Cervical wart treatment only rarely causes heavy bleeding and when it does, it is frequently because of heavy-handed therapy.

7)Should a person with a history of having a wart on his/her hand be required to wear gloves at all times?

8)Like HPV, the majority of people with Herpes are unaware they have the virus. When you say you never got the the virus, is that based on antibody testing or just never having an outbreak?

To me, the real risk of an STD is the HIV and Hepatitis virus, not the Herpes or HPV virus.

 

 

1. I did not say that HPV is definitely a precursor to cervical cancer only that it might be. That means that a man with HPV has a moral obligation to inform a woman he may sleep with of the risk so that she can decide whether or not she wants to assume this risk. If I were she, I wouldn’t.

 

2. While visible warts may pose less of a risk than the tiny ones, why does that matter? A person who has visible warts is also likely to have the others.

 

3. My understanding is that the vinegar test is used to detect non-obvious warts. But why would it matter if there is not effective screening test? That would merely increase the risk of transmission, would it not?

 

4. Again, does the pervasiveness of HPV somehow reduce the risk? Or diminish someone’s responsibility to inform a partner?

 

5. I don’t know how HPV is transmitted. I reported the advice provided by a series of doctors consulted on the matter. Part of my point was that doctors don’t know that much, but the larger point is that in the face of so much uncertainty risks and responsibilities increase rather than diminish.

 

6. The warts on the woman in question were internal, not external. I believe she was treated ineptly with a scalpel, but I don’t know that. Assuming that were true, wouldn’t that merely compound the cancer risk with the risk of incompetent medical treatment?

 

7. In the case cited, the woman having sex with the HPV-infected man wore the rubber gloves, not the other way around. I don’t know what steps would be sufficient for an infected person to reduce the risk to others. My whole point is that one does not want to find oneself in the position of having to face such a question.

 

8. Correct. I believe that I don’t have the herpes virus because I have never had a genital sore. I am not aware of test for the presence of the herpes virus, but I wouldn’t feel it necessary to have such a test in the absence of a sore since my understanding is that it is only transmitted through an open sore.

 

You seem to feel that the lack of a definitive link to cervical cancer and the pervasiveness of HPV make it somehow less of a problem. My view is exactly the opposite. Most people foolishly assess risks only by considering the worst case consequences independent of the likelihood. So, they stupidly buy lottery tickets and worry about terrorists. It is much more important to consider the likelihood. If you are in the sexually active ages of, say, 16 to 45 it is quite likely that your sex partner may have one of these diseases and very likely that you will get it too. That is very bad news.

 

While HPV and herpes (which increases the risk of HIV transmission) may not kill you, they will make your life vastly more complicated and you may even kill someone else. To me these are serious consequences particularly because they are fairly likely. Unlike terrorists and lotteries.

 

Khun Pad Thai

[solar]

<One diagnostic technique is to spread vinegar on the area. Warts turn white when coated with vinegar and are easier to see>

 

This sounds like a wind-up to me. Vinegar on the ol' man mmmmm....

 

[Guest]

While HPV and herpes (which increases the risk of HIV transmission) may not kill you, they will make your life vastly more complicated

 

KhunPadThai,

 

Fact is, for most people who contract some form of HPV, it is no more than an annoyance, and does not make life much more complicated.

 

There are about 30 varieties of genital HPV, only a few of which are accociated with cervical cancer.

 

Despite genital HPV infections being very common, cervical cancer kills about 4400 American women per year. Compare this to the 250,000+ women who die of other cancers per year. Most of which, baring smoking related cancers, are not very avoidable.

 

Or for that matter, compare to the 20000+ women who die in automobile accidents every year.

 

Taking extreme precautions to avoid HPV caused cervical cancer is near pointless when it's far far more likely that something else will kill you. Especially when you consider that someone with visible warts still mosly likely does not carry the strain that can cause cervical cancer, and someone who has never had visible warts may. This to me is just another example of misperception of risk.

 

I do agree with you though that taking percautions to avoid spreading STD's and honest communication with a partner are the proper things to do.

 

see link:

http://www.cervicalcancercampaign.org/home.htm

 

[tomc12]

KhunPadThai,

The CDC estimates that "50-75% of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV at some point in their lives". Since the majority of these people will have subclinical infections (one estimate is that only 1 out of 100 people with HPV have visible warts), you must feel that anybody who is not a virgin should tell their potential sex partner/s that they may have HPV and discuss the risks including they may get cancer or die from it. But if your partner is not a virgin, then there is a good chance she has already been exposed, so I think the only thing you will accomplish is you are not going to get laid very much.

Although mixed subtype infections occur, visible warts are more likely to be benign subtypes and not more likely to contain the aggressive ones.

The reason why it matters that there is no good screening test is how do you know you or anyone else know whether they have HPV. Certainly not by the lack of visible warts.

If a series of doctors told you that you can get HPV from touching a person's jeans, I would ask them for the reference because I don't know of any.

Treating warts by a scapel, especially if they were internal, is poor therapy. Also a woman wearing rubber gloves to bed, besides being a turnoff, is still not protected from getting HPV.

If it is important to consider likelihood, then the majority of sexually active people will likely acquire HPV and the majority will not develop any cancer from it.

 

[Guest]

i guess that i'm the only person who got warts from an antbite.

 

the bloody thing but me in the private part during breakfast (i had a sarong on). the same afternoon an infection started to develop there, and when that healed up i had a wart forming up there.

the first years i had no clue what that bloody growth on me willie was. my missus never got it.

very difficult to get rid off. once i got it cut, then frozen off, then treated with that creme. and now it starts coming again... ::

 

basically, it an annoyance, but that's it.